🔍 What’s on Pittsburgh’s flag anyway?

City Creates Office of Equal Protection

The new office will ensure that disability rights, civil rights, and labor laws are enforced — like paid sick leave, the “living wage” law, and ADA compliance. It will also provide an accessible way for residents to file complaints. [TribLIVE]

• Speaking of labor laws, the National Labor Relations Board found four Pittsburgh-area Starbucks “guilty of threatening, surveilling, and illegally firing” union employees. 🎧 I spoke to a few unionizers during their organizing last summer — two of them were among those wrongfully terminated. Starbucks has been ordered to reinstate them with back pay. [Pittsburgh City Paper]

Indigenous Burial Ground Found in Sharpsburg

Peoples Natural Gas Co. found human remains when it was digging for a pipeline project along Short Canal Street, and anthropological and archaeological experts confirmed it was a burial site for Indigenous people. The county is beginning the repatriation process, which will return the remains to their descendants.

• Even if it's not on purpose, the desecration of any grave site is disrespectful. 🎧 City Cast’s Elizabeth Kauma talked to members of the Indigenous community to explain the repatriation process and why it’s often difficult to return human remains. [City Cast Pittsburgh]

Pittsburgh Skates to Junior Roller Derby Championships

The Pittsburgh Derby Brats will compete in youth national championships for the first time in Rockville, Maryland this weekend. They’ll face five teams, including defending champions Philly Roller Derby Juniors. Local kids love the sport because of its inclusivity; In 2021, the team opened up to all genders. [90.5 WESA]

Whether you’ve recently fallen in love with the city, have lived among these mountains and rivers your whole life, or (like our City Cast Pittsburgh host Megan Harris) are celebrating a decade in the ‘Burgh, there are rites of passage that make you a real Pittsburgher — like your first ride on the Monongahela Incline or displaying the Terrible Towel as if it’s the city flag. (More on that in today’s City Cast Pittsburgh episode.)

What else makes you show your true (black and gold) colors?

Reader Cleo M. wrote: “You have to experience four seasons in one week.”  🤣

If you want your input on our official Pittsburgh rites of passage list…

🚎 Transit Service We Dream About | Wednesday | 7-8:30 p.m

Join Pittsburghers for Public Transit to discuss the future of public transit in Allegheny County. [free, virtual / Downtown]

🪴 Plant Pop-Up | Thursday | 4-8 p.m.

Head to Velum Fermentation for tasty brews and Greenhouse Co-Op houseplants. [free, South Side]

🎶 Summer Shorts at the O'Reilly | Thursday | 7 p.m

Experience the whimsical sounds of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night's Dream. [$25-50, Downtown]

🌙 Night Life After Dark 21+ | Friday | 6-10 p.m.

Learn about the natural world at night while enjoying drinks, dancing, and music at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. [$24, Oakland]

Does The Pittsburgh City Flag Need A Makeover?

Pittsburgh’s flag is the fourth oldest city flag in the U.S., and despite its interesting journey, it has largely remained the same since its debut in 1899. Lead producer Mallory Falk is talking with vexillologist (a flag scholar) Ted Kaye to ask, “Is it time for a new city flag?”